38 Studios laid off its entire workforce according to an unconfirmed report on WPRI.com where they have an email purportedly sent to the company's staff, which they say consisted of 379 employees a of March 15. The Verge adds they've been informed by "a source familiar with the company" that 38 Studios also closed both its Rhode Island headquarters and its subsidiary studio Big Huge Games (thanks nin). They also note there is a semi-confirmation of this in a tweet from Colin Campbell, lead world designer at Big Huge Games: "Big Huge Games was home for my wife and me for our adult lives so far. I'll miss it terribly, but so proud. Good night and good luck." The Verge also quotes Governor of Rhode Island Lincoln Chafee attributing the closure to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, saying the RPG "failed." They note that the game sold approximately 1.2 million copies in 90 days and Chafee says experts told him it needed to sell three million copies to break even. In 2010 Rhode Island loaned 38 Studios $75 million.

Financial troubles at the developer founded by former major league baseball pitcher Curt Schilling surfaced less than two weeks ago, but after some drama involving a bounced loan payment check and allegations of a missed payroll, things seemed to be on the rise, with word that the loan payment cleared and that the company's MMORPG codenamed Project Copernicus was expected in a year. In an interesting side note, Rock, Paper, Shotgun points out the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation has posted 38 Studios Public Documents with all the details on its financial dealing with the company.

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LemonJoose wrote on May 25, 2012, 05:02:Perfect example of why government shouldn't use taxpayer money to invest in specific businesses. Other than the Wall Street bailouts and the bailouts of GM and Chrysler, which both the Democratic and Republican parties are guilty of, the three worst examples of this kind of stupidity are Solyndra (brought to you by Barack Obama and the national Democratic party), 38 Studios (brought to you by the Democratic party of Rhode Island), and Evergreen Solar (brought to you by Governor Deval Patrick and the Democratic party of Massachusetts). If you want to bring jobs to your state or to your nation, lower the corporate tax rate across the board, and improve public education by firing bad teachers and getting rid of tenure at public universities. Curt Schilling is indeed a hypocrite for accepting taxpayer-funded loan guarantees -- it's just corporate welfare.

Jesus Christ. What am I reading? I can't believe you're bringing up Solyndra. Out of 20 BILLION dollars doled out to renewal energy companies only Solyndra has defaulted. OMG - you mean some investments can fail? That's unpossible! Do you, like, have any experience in the real life business world or do you just patrol conservative blogs all day? You think venture capitalists get a return on even half of their investments? The Department of Energy's vetting process was actually quite rigorous. A large part of the stimulus funds haven't even been utilized because of it. Does that sound like they're giving out the money recklessly?

RI investing in 38 Studios was obviously a huge mistake and the politicians will pay for it, but you actually believe that something like renewable energy should only be left to private investors? The US would be the ONLY country in the world to do that then. There's a difference between investing in an energy company and a videogame company. History is chock full of examples of government successfully propping up infant industries (see the Korean chaebol as an example)... even in the United States!

I'm sorry, but energy and food are things I'm not comfortable leaving to the whims of your average idiot shareholder/speculator. Subsidies there can only be good things. I just don't understand this country's sudden worship of private ownership.